MADTOWN ROBOTICS WINS CHAMPIONSHIP

By Adrian Castillo

In April of 2019, the city of Madera, California became home to a team of world champions.

“I believe that’s why we get all the press because we’re such a small community and just showing everybody what we could do as a small community. We’re not as big as Fresno or Clovis or some of the other ones that are out there, but we could still compete with the big boys,” said Vernon Valmonte, the Madera High manufacturing, engineering and robotics instructor.

MadTown Robotics finished their 2019 season of the Deep Space competition with a record of 51-5, securing their first championship in the Einstein division.

“We could not have won the championship without the students and the extraordinary amount of time they put in,” Valmonte said.

In addition to their victory at the Deep Space competition, they also won the Industrial Design Award, which was sponsored by General Motors.

Traveling around the world is not cheap, so the team has set up a GoFundMe page, Team 1323 to World Champs, to help with the cost of travelling in hopes of defending their title this upcoming season.